Will Hair Transplants Leave Scars?

Hair transplants help to reverse hair loss by moving hair from one area of your scalp to the area where you have balding or thinning. Once transplanted, the new hair is there permanently. Today’s hair restoration options are much improved over the procedures performed in the past. While people underwent hair restoration surgery once were left with huge, visible head scars, today’s methods, such as strip harvesting and follicular unit extraction (FUE) less much smaller, less noticeable scars.

Your Hair Transplant Options

FUE and strip harvesting is the two hair transplant procedures most commonly performed today. The big difference between the two is the way the surgeon harvests the hair follicles that he will transplant to the balding area of the scalp.

During a strip harvesting surgery, the surgeon removes the donor hair follicles in one long strip of scalp. He then grafts the follicles one by one onto the area where the hair is thinning. The surgery is usually recommended for people who want to have a larger area of balding or thinning hair and who want to transplant a considerable amount of hair at once. It’s also ideal for people who wear their hair long since it doesn’t require shaving the head.

FUE is the more modern method of hair transplantation. Instead of removing a strip of scalp with hair follicles attached, the surgeon removes each follicle from the scalp individually. Follicular unit extraction is often the more challenging of the two procedures, as it requires a fair amount of skill in both harvesting the hair follicles and transplanting them to a different area of the scalp.

Strip Harvesting Scars

Since the surgeon needs to make an incision in the scalp during strip harvesting, a linear scar often remains. Older methods of strip harvesting used to leave much larger, longer scars. Today, the surgeon typically removes smaller strips of scalp from the donor area. That means that any scarring is often not noticeable and is easily concealed by the remaining hair. In some cases, it’s possible for hair to grow through the incision site or scar, creating a natural appearance.

Follicular Unit Extraction Scars

FUE doesn’t involve making an incision and won’t leave a linear scar. Often, what’s left behind is little pin-prick like scabs. Once those scabs heal, scarring is typically not visible. If the scabs do leave a mark, it is fairly easy to conceal them with hair, since the marks are so tiny.

Hair restoration doesn’t have to mean major scarring. Both the FUE and strip harvesting methods performed at Contemporary Hair Transplant in Paramus, NJ leaves barely-there scars. To learn more about hair transplants and your options, call 844-261-7020 to schedule an appointment today.